Social Networks May Help Cancer Recovery

Highly social people formerly diagnosed with breast cancer may have a better survival rate than those with a less active inner circle, a new report suggests.

Patients with fewer ties to friends, family, romantic partners, community and religious groups were at a higher risk of dying, according to the report published on Monday.

These patients were 43 percent more likely to have breast cancer return and 64 percent more likely to die from breast cancer.

While researchers found a link between social connections and cancer progression, the correlation hasn’t actually been proved, experts told CNN.

Elissa Bantug, a program manager at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, who was not involved in the study, suggests that having lots of friends and family around can benefit a person practically and not just emotionally.

Bantug exposed that friends and family can help with running errands, providing rides to the doctor, picking up prescriptions and helping out around the house, all tasks that become more difficult for a person suffering from cancer.

In addition, professor Sandra Swain at Georgetown University Medical Center, said having a partner or spouse could improve an individual’s health because they will be more likely encouraged to get symptoms checked out by a doctor, exercise, eat well and take medications when they are schedule to do so.